PLANETARY DETAILS:
[3025] Bolan is the site of the Lyran Commonwealth's regional Military Intelligence Center that scrutinizes the Free Worlds League.

[3053] The loss of the War College of Tamar to Clan Wolf reduced the Lyran output of ground forces by a quarter, a major blow given the immense losses suffered by the military. The short-term solution was to draw troops from militia units and to accelerate the programs of the three remaining ground-force academies. However, it soon became apparent that these efforts alone would not solve the problem and that more was needed to rebuild the armed forces.

Thus, in 3053 Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion authorized the upgrade of the Bolan militia training facility to academy status. The work was completed a year later, and the Bolan Martial Academy graduated its first line troops in mid-3055. The assassination of the Archon later that year shocked the academy staff. As a result, they petitioned the then-AFFC high command to rename the facility the Melissa Steiner Martial Academy, a more quickly agreed by Prince Victor.

So far, the academy teaches only "conventional" troops - infantry and armor - as well as technical support staff and specialists such as combat engineers and artillery. Plans to create a MechWarrior training academy on Bolan have repeatedly run into problems, principally with financing but also with bureaucratic delays and political objections. The heads of several other academies, jealous of their positions and viewing Bolan as an upstart, have enmeshed the process in red tape. As a result, the MechWarrior facility is not scheduled to begin training troops until 3065, ten years behind schedule.

Though newly come to its academy status, the MSMA has a long history of hard work graduating competent soldiers. Unfortunately, its former boot camp status has prompted many units to regard MSMA graduates as inferior to those of established facilities. The instructors and cadets work hard to overcome this prejudice, but the resistance has steadily sapped their resolve and a "why bother" malaise is beginning to take hold in some of the older instructors.

[3060] Though the last Jaeger unit to enter active service, the 1st Bolan Jaegers regiments has already demonstrated its skill and resolve during the Quetta Land War, a violent dispute between two cities on Bolan's Sak't' continent. Simmering for more than a decade, the dispute centered on control of the Brahui Pass, a 100-kilometer-long gorge through the Kilimshan mountain range and a major artery for goods flowing to both cities. When Quetta attempted to take control of the pass, their neighbors in Sibi protested. At first their challenges kept to the courts, but then the situation worsened. Each city began menacing the other, first with hired thugs, then with scattered sniper attacks on convoys. In 3060 the situation exploded into open warfare and the newly operational Jaegers were sent to separate the two combatants.

Each protested its innocence and blamed the other for the fighting, but Colonel Lambert pursued a policy of strict neutrality, deftly avoiding their attempts to make her take sides and instead worked to separate the factions and ensure relief supplies flowed freely. The turning point in the dispute came several weeks after the regiment arrived, when a Jaeger-escorted convoy came under artillery attack while in the pass. More than a dozen civilians were killed. The Quetta Council immediately accused the Jaegers of standing by and allowing Sidi forces to massacre their people, demanding both restitution and LAAF support to crush their opponents.

Unfortunately for the Quetta, the Jaeger's fire-track radar systems showed clearly that the barrage originated from Quetta positions, seemingly an attempt by the Council to force the Jaegers to take their side. Lambert faced down the Council with the evidence, which they denied vehemently. However, within a week all Quetta claims to control of the pass were withdrawn. The combatants withdrew under LAAF supervision. A company of Jaegers remains in the area to ensure the situation's continued stability, but the bulk of the unit returned to the capital, Bolan City.

Socio-Industrial Levels:

Technological Development

High-tech world with advanced research centers and universities; best medical care available; cutting-edge microelectronics industry.

Industrialization Level

Heavily industrialized world capable of manufacturing any and all complex output.

Raw Material Dependence

World/system produces all the raw materials needed and commonly exports large quantities of surplus.

Industrial Output

World has a wide industrial base that produces many different types of products and exports most of its output.

Agricultural Dependence

World has abundant environment producing enough to sustain the population using agriculture technologies; limited exports.

EMPLOYER SITUATION REPORT:The Melissa Steiner Martial Academy of Bolan (MSMA) has been struggling in recent years. The prejudicial attitude of the other Lyran Academies toward it, regarding as an upstart boot camp, has plagued morale at MSMA.

In addition to that, the academy’s mechwarrior program, started in 3065, was shuttered in 3084. A result of falling standards, low quality program graduates and declining enrollment. The failure only triggered more morale problems as MSMA and yet further declining enrollment in the academy overall.

After a thorough review, the LAAF decided to reinvest in the MSMA. Regardless of what the other academies or the public thinks, the MSMA is important. Worlds like Pandora and even Skye are under threat by nearby hostile neighbors. A fact that has hindered those academies for years. The LAAF has suffered heavy losses to the Free Worlds League and it might get a lot worse before it gets better. The LAAF needs to keep up the supply of newly trained personnel and officers.

The LAAF has been pumping new funds and support into the MSMA. So far our efforts have paid off. We’ve seen some successful classes of combat engineers, infantry, armor, artillery personnel and support staff go through the academy and hit the ground running in the LAAF.

We’re seeing worrying signs in our first new mechwarrior class though. They’ve completed their first two years, which included a year of broad military studies and a year of basic mechwarrior piloting and gunnery skills. They are partway through their third and last year, which is focused on advanced battlemech combat, strategy and an array of leadership and technical subjects on BattleMech engineering.

The cadets’ scores have been low and independent evaluators have determined that some of the academy staff were too lenient and too lax during the first two years. Many of the Mechwarrior Program instructors are new to MSMA and new to instructing in general. When they’ve felt like things weren’t going well, they tended to blame their own inexperience and a program that was still in a state of transition, rather than correcting the cadets’ deficiencies. So the cadets have gotten frequent “passes” on things they should have failed or scored low on.

We’re only now realizing the problem. But it’s a problem we need to solve quickly. This first cadet class of the new program is supposed to graduate in a matter of months and it can’t fail completely. We’d rather see a low success rate that graduates a few skilled mechwarriors, than throw an entire program’s worth of unprepared mechwarriors onto the LAAF’s line units. If the MSMA’s mechwarrior program proves inept again, it might be shuttered, for good this time.

MSMA doesn’t want that, neither does the LAAF. Leutenant General Quinn Mueller, the academy’s Kommandant is being allocated additional resources to rescue the situation.

We are hiring a mercenary command to aid in the mechwarrior cadets’ instruction and to serve as additional trainers and opposition forces in simulations and exercises.

You’ll also be working with elements of the First Bolan Jaegers, who are on-world in the midst of their own training and replenishment cycle. Many of the Jaegers are MSMA graduates and are invested in this outcome as well.

If you do well here, and the First Bolan Jaegers find your unit to be of value, you may be offered a supplemental contract to accompany them on their next combat operation.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:1) Through instruction, OpFor support and advising, ensure the next MSMA mechwarrior cadet class is successful in the final months of its training 2) Aid the Melissia Steiner Martial Academy of Bolan in improving their overall training standards and morale

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:1) Work with Leutnant-General Quinn Mueller to deal with any crisis that may threaten the MSMA during your contract 2) Work with the First Bolan Jaegers as-needed to assist in any crisis or emergency situations